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Day 343: Polenta with Ground Pork and Kale

On Saturday night, I made a pork dish using the following recipe from Everyday Food. It turned out okay, but it was a little bland, I think because I didn’t have Parmesan on hand and used cheddar instead.

I used a little some of the leftovers in eggs the next morning and added garlic and cumin. It was super tasty once I added those flavors.

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork

1 medium yellow onion, diced medium

1 large bunch kale, trimmed, stems and leaves separated and roughly chopped (the recipe originally called for chard, but I used kale instead. Not a fan of chard.)

Salt and pepper

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fine cornmeal, divided

3/4 cup grated Parmesan (3 ounces), divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a cast-iron skillet, cook pork over medium, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 7 minutes. Add onion and Swiss chard stems, increase heat to medium-high, and saute until translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in Swiss chard leaves and cook until wilted, 2 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons cornmeal, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a rapid simmer. Cook until liquid thickens, stirring occasionally, about 14 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Whisk in remaining 3/4 cup cornmeal and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan, season with salt and pepper, and spoon over pork and greens. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan, transfer to oven, and bake 20 minutes. Heat broiler and broil until top is golden brown and mixture is bubbling at edge, 2 minutes.